Kirkland listed Grammy-nominated British songstress PJ Harvey as his dream female collaboration choice. "I still have a thing for PJ Harvey. I still listen to her records from the 90's. I just love her voice and the way that she writes," he said.

Kirkland listed Grammy-nominated British songstress PJ Harvey as his dream female collaboration choice. "I still have a thing for PJ Harvey. I still listen to her records from the 90's. I just love her voice and the way that she writes," he said.

Interesting. They're playing at a small-ish venue near me in a couple of weeks. I'll check them out.

Kirkland listed Grammy-nominated British songstress PJ Harvey as his dream female collaboration choice. "I still have a thing for PJ Harvey. I still listen to her records from the 90's. I just love her voice and the way that she writes," he said.

Interesting. They're playing at a small-ish venue near me in a couple of weeks. I'll check them out.

PJ Harvey – The Hope Six Demolition ProjectI think The Hope Six Demolition Project and Let England Shake are this two pronged attack which is utterly perfect, entirely relevant and so important to be releasing this late into her career. I'd listened to Let England Shake a lot, and I felt PJ Harvey had changed so drastically with that record, and The Hope Six follows on from that so beautifully. I remember hearing 'The Ministry of Defence' and calling Dean [Richardson, Rattlesnakes guitarist] saying, 'Have you heard the new PJ Harvey? How are we going to release our album now? She's written a dirtier record than we could ever do.'

It's amazing to see someone with that history in music release something that relevant, here's an artist who's so deep into her career and I think it's one of the greatest records she's made. She's definitely an inspiration; I think any artist writing at the minute would be foolish to not include some of the tragedies we're witnessing in the world. As artists we have a platform and a responsibility to talk about things that matter. They matter to me and they clearly matter to her as well. I find it incredibly frustrating that [more artists aren't addressing issues]. Either say something important or fuck off, essentially.

Someone said a long time ago that stupidity was more of a problem than evil. Evil can be fought against, it can be revealed to be what it is, you can see it and name it and rally against it. Stupidity is much more dangerous because it allows evil to grow and breed and become the norm; you can't reason with a stupid person. I think when I see bands that aren't writing about anything important or releasing music that has no importance to them, I'm not trying to be overly political with my new record, it's a record about human relationships, but it was important for me to include [some political themes] because it's what's surrounded me for the last couple of years. We'll see who's got the courage.

James Johnston http://thequietus.com/articles/21327-ja ... ds?page=11PJ Harvey - The Hope Six Demolition ProjectI got the call to come into the studio the week before recording, and now it's become an entire world for me with the tour. The level of focus and drive that went into this is phenomenal and unlike any experience I've ever had. The recording itself was so unusual to start with, what with being watched through the two-way mirror as it was being recorded at Somerset House in London. I'd walk over the bridge at Waterloo every day from where I live in Lambeth to get to the studio installed in the basement, which, fittingly enough, is an old rifle range.

The record has such an unusual sound, almost no bass guitar, the primal heartbeat of the drums taking a lot of the low end. Battalions of brass and guitars juxtaposed with incredible lightness and subtlety. 'Chain Of Keys', 'Dollar Dollar', 'Ministry Of Defence', 'Ministry Of Social Affairs', 'The Wheel', 'River Anacostia', 'Community Of Hope'… the whole thing.

Playing this live every night is an absolute joy. Again, the focus involved with a ten-piece band, the lyrics, the music itself, the subject matter, the incredible attention to every detail, and, of course, the people. I've met so many lovely people in and around the band through this process and it's friends old and new thanks to this album.

The first gig I did with Polly was as Gallon Drunk with PJ Harvey doing a surprise slot, at a tiny pub in Hampstead in 1992, and then we supported her all round Europe and the States in 1993. So now for Terry and I to be working together with Polly again, finally, after all this time is just wonderful, and to get to play back-catalogue songs with these wild arrangements for the big band is amazing.

What a voice, just astonishing live. An all-round incredible experience, and a brilliant album.

Last edited by Romario11 on Thu Aug 31, 2017 11:11 am, edited 1 time in total.

Possibly slightly OT, but 25 years of Later with Jools Holland was on tonight. There was a little section on Polly & I couldn't help but feel Paul Whitehouse (narrator) had the most respect & admiration for her out of all the acts.But then I would feel that wouldn't I!

"There is a photo in Brian Molko’s home which serves as a constant reminder of Placebo’s love affair with Australia.Ask him for his fondest memory from two decades of touring here and he describes the photo of himself and one of his favourite musicians on the planet, PJ Harvey.They are on a boat on Sydney Harbour — as all visiting rock stars must do — with the Opera House in the background."

“When we did the Big Day Out many years ago, that was the beginning of my friendships with Josh (Homme) from Queens of the Stone Age and Polly (Harvey),” he says.

“I am looking at that picture of myself and Polly now and it’s a treasured possession of mine.

“I was always so starstruck by Polly Harvey and it was on that tour I managed to overcome my shyness.”

"There is a photo in Brian Molko’s home which serves as a constant reminder of Placebo’s love affair with Australia.Ask him for his fondest memory from two decades of touring here and he describes the photo of himself and one of his favourite musicians on the planet, PJ Harvey.They are on a boat on Sydney Harbour — as all visiting rock stars must do — with the Opera House in the background."

“When we did the Big Day Out many years ago, that was the beginning of my friendships with Josh (Homme) from Queens of the Stone Age and Polly (Harvey),” he says.

“I am looking at that picture of myself and Polly now and it’s a treasured possession of mine.

“I was always so starstruck by Polly Harvey and it was on that tour I managed to overcome my shyness.”

Question: <...> If I am to interview someone who I have personally admired for many years then there is always that possibility that it can go belly up isn’t there?

Steve Lamacq: Oh goodness me, yes. There are times when things just do not go as you had hoped and planned that they would. A perfect example of that was the second time that I interviewed PJ Harvey. We did an interview when her first single came around and to be honest for the best part of the interview she was rather elusive. I remember saying to her at the end of the interview “you do know that you are going to have to do a lot of these types of interviews because I do believe that you are going to be very popular” and she looked at me slightly crestfallen. She replied “yes I know and I am a bit worried about that” and she was. I really do think that she struggled with the concept of opening up during interviews for a very long time.

When her debut album was released, the New Musical Express sent me down to Yeovil to interview her and it was certainly one of the most difficult interviews that I have ever done. I just wanted to say “your record is brilliant, can you tell me a bit more about it” but she was so guarded. She put two members of her band either side of her and each time that she didn’t like a question, without saying anything, she just looked to either her left or her right to one of the members of the band who had to answer for her (laughter). It was so bad - bless her - that she actually phoned her record company and said “do you want to phone Steve up and see if he needs anymore information because I don’t think that I have given him anything” (laughter). So yes, sometimes it can go alright, but other times it can go bloody wrong (laughter).

PJ Harvey - Let England ShakePJ's someone who's not afraid to change a course of direction, she's still always gonna sound like PJ Harvey. But this record, which has all this weird autoharp in the background adds a real tension to the record. There's just so much beauty. She has the thing that I was talking about earlier with Björk, where she has this incredible voice but she's not afraid to make strange sounds with her voice, and it makes her voice sound so much more powerful that way. It taps into that balance of not coming from a place of either a woman or a man, but from being a consciousness.